College of Letters & Science
IN FOCUS
August 2022, Vol. 12, No. 8
Breaking the (pint) glass ceiling
Art history alumna Samantha Danen achieves important firsts in Milwaukee’s craft brewing industry Pg. 6
Grad student learn Smithsonian’s Blac
Contents Feature Stories Urban Studies student interns at Smithsonian Anthropology alum excavates ancient footprints Art history alum makes history in MKE brewing New class helps students find their majors Physics prof’s research sheds light on cancer
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Last autumn, Nateya Taylor took a class with UWM history professor Amanda Seligman and discovered a love for archival research. In fact, Taylor liked it so much that she decided to find an internship at a museum – maybe a Black history museum to align with her other research interests. She’s now working at the biggest one in the country. Taylor, a graduate student working toward her Master’s degree in urban studies at UWM, is spending the summer as a digitization and curatorial intern at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Located on the National Mall, the
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museum is the country’s premier institution detailing the history of Black Americans.
In the Media Alumni Accomplishments Laurels and Accolades People in Print Planetarium Events
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“I remember when it opened in 2016,” Taylor recalled. “(It was) my freshman year of college, and I really wanted to go but never had come to visit. So I was like, it’d be so cool to work there.” She was right. “I’m learning so much and I get to network with so many different people,” she said. “All the people are just very welcoming in the department that I’m working in. If you tell them what you’re interested in, then they’ll help you learn those skills that are beyond the job description.”
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At the moment, Taylor is doing digitization work. She handles the museum’s archival objects, takes photographs of the materials, and then adds metadata to the files: the object’s origins, who donated it, its age, a description, and The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Photo by Nateya Taylor.
ns archival work and more at ck history museum more. Digitization is important because the process not only makes the museum’s collection available to patrons who may only be able to access these materials virtually, but it also helps preserve archival materials that might be fragile, like a fading photograph or a crumbling piece of paper. The NMAAHC also partners with outside institutions and organizations to help preserve their records. Currently, Taylor is working on digitizing a collection of archival materials from St. Paul’s College, a now-shuttered historically Black college in Lawrenceville, Virginia. The materials date back to the 1930s, and Taylor and her fellow interns are hoping to help preserve this bit of history. As much as she enjoys working older collections like these, Taylor says the coolest artifact she’s seen in the museum is actually fairly young: Urban studies graduate student Nateya Taylor prepares the camera to take photos of archival objects at the “One of the cool things I got to see that the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture for her internship. Photo by Lia L. Jones. museum has is the Black Panther costume that Chadwick Boseman wore in the Marvel movie. That was just so amazing,” she said. because it’s so interdisciplinary, looking at urban problems and why they occur,” Taylor said. Beyond the artifacts, Taylor says that the best part of the internship has been the chance to be mentored and grow That interdisciplinary focus has been invaluable at her her skills, both as an archivist and as a photographer and internship. It’s one thing to learn facts in class, Taylor noted, filmmaker. The interns receive professional development but learning how to think critically, approach history from and have been invited to conferences and seminars to learn different perspectives, and challenge her own assumptions more about the field. has led her to success. Living in Washington, D.C. for the summer has also been an exciting experience, Taylor added. She’s navigated the city’s metro system and has enjoyed getting to know the neighborhood where she’s staying for the summer. The capital is a long way from Milwaukee, Taylor’s hometown. She attended Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for her Bachelor’s degree, where she majored in criminal justice with a pre-law concentration. Taylor had plans to be a lawyer, and even took the LSATs, before realizing that law wasn’t the right path. “I did my senior thesis on Milwaukee Black health, looking at how segregation impacts Black Milwaukeeans’ overall health. That inspired me to do this urban studies Master’s degree at UW-Milwaukee
It’s also made her more thoughtful about history, race, and education in America. “I think that (this internship) has made me think about how we don’t go into depth about Black history and how there’s so much left out. When I went to the museum, there’s a lot of stuff that I didn’t even know about Black history,” she said. “I think that if we do pay attention to Black history and actually learn it, then it can help us to come together and understand each other better, instead of continuing to have instances where people are discriminating against Black people, whether it’s in healthcare, whether it’s the government, whether it’s the criminal justice system.” Taylor’s Smithsonian internship ends in August. She already has another internship lined up for after she returns – this time at America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 3
Following in their footprints: Anth ancient human tracks Millenia ago, before the pyramids were built, before the development of pottery, before mammoths and mastodons went extinct, children were splashing in puddles on the shores of paleo-lake Otero in the Tularosa Basin. Nearby, a mother walked along the shore, holding a baby on one hip. A hunter stalked his prey. Behind them, they left tracks in the mud, which was rich with gypsum – a mineral that today is used in plaster casts. The gypsiferous soil, combined with the right level of water and clay, ensured those footprints remained pressed into the ground.
But more than that, seeing the footprints has driven home that people once lived here. “You can look at an artifact and you can guess what it was like to make that artifact,” Connelly said. “But you look at these footprints, and you can see kids splashing in puddles. You can see the way an individual’s hip is turned because they’re carrying a child. With the way that their foot is pressed, you can see someone hunting. You don’t have to guess. And that’s just so cool.” A journey to White Sands
Over thousands of years, gypsum Clare Connelly Connelly has long been from the nearby San Andreas interested in archaeology Mountains washed into the basin and history. After earning a Bachelor’s and crystallized as Lake Otero slowly dried degree anthropology at the University of up. The crystals eroded into fine grains of Ohio, Connelly came to UW-Milwaukee white sand, covering the tracks completely. for graduate school, eager to study under Then, 23,000 years later, the footprints distinguished professor of anthropology were uncovered once more, thanks to Bettina Arnold. erosion. These now-fossilized tracks are the While at UWM, Connelly got an internship oldest-ever human footprints discovered in with Death Valley National Park and fell in North America. A team of archaeologists love with the U.S. National Park Service. at White Sands National Park in New Mexico began excavation on the site in “From then on, I decided I was going to be 2020 and publicized their findings in late a jack-of-all-trades archaeologist and learn 2021. whatever tools I needed to be able to work the Park Service,” she recalled. “It completely changes our perception of the peopling of the area,” said Clare Connelly, a UWM alumna and one of the archaeologists on the excavation team. “Before our (discovery) came out, it was believed that people weren’t in that area until 16,000 years ago.”
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Her first job was with the Midwest Archaeological Center, a division of the National Parks which contracts to help federal agencies with their land and cultural resource management. From there, she held museum positions in North Dakota and Texas before she was hired at White Sands National Park in 2020.
Above: A trench dug into the brown gypsum National Park reveals more human footprint Right: White Sands has the largest collectio Photos courtesy of the National Park Servic
hropology alum helps uncover
m soil on a lake playa in White Sands ts below the surface. on of fossilized human footprints. ce.
The job was everything Connelly could have hoped for. “My first day (I) was hunting mammoth tracks,” she laughed. (She and the intern leading the hunt did end up finding them – they look like huge circles, Connelly said.) White Sands is full of fossilized tracks that are all thousands of years old: Mammoths and mastodons, canines and felines, human, camel, and even giant sloth. Connelly was hired in part to help excavate the human footprints. As part of her job, she’s working with the descendants of the people who made those early tracks. “We work with dozens of tribes and pueblos who are connected to this land. They have a lot of history here,” Connelly said. “They’re literally walking in their ancestors’ footprints.” In addition to excavating fossils and liaising with the indigenous community, Connelly is responsible for all of the archaeological work in White Sands National Park. That means she’s in charge of the site’s museum program, its compliance with federal guidelines, the park’s Geographic Information Systems program, and “everything that is in any way connected to cultural resources,” she said. “It’s very common in the Park Service to wear a lot of hats.” She and the footprint excavation team are also waiting on some new dating information to find out more about those 23,000-year-old fossilized tracks.
A significant discovery The footprints were discovered by accident in 2009. A young boy had gotten lost in the park. As he was helping look for the missing child, David Bustos, the Resource Program Manager at White Sands National Park and Connelly’s now-boss, stumbled across some fossilized footprints that looked to be human. After the boy was found safe, Bustos called in experts from around the globe to help him excavate what would turn about to be the oldest-known fossilized human footprints in North America. Connelly was hired after the discovery, but she has helped excavate the site and studied the surrounding areas to understand what the environment might have been like when the footprints were made. While the oldest do date back 23,000 years, some tracks are as “young” as 10,000 years old. Using carbon dating, the other researchers can estimate the age of the footprints based on the age of the surrounding organic material, like seeds and soil. And who knows, Connelly added. It could be that there are even older footprints in the area that just haven’t been uncovered yet. The researchers are still digging in hopes of learning more about how the American southwest came to be populated. But one thing is certain: No matter when they lived, some things about humanity are universal. “You’ll look at these footprints, and you can see kids splashing in puddles. And that’s just so cool,” Connelly said. “It’s just so human. Children are always going to jump in puddles when they see them.” By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 5
A beer pioneer Samantha Danen is a bit of a beer nerd. She began homebrewing while she majored in art history at UWM, and fell in love. But when she tried to get a job in the craft beer industry, Danen found herself passed over time and again for men who had less experience and knowledge than she did. Eventually, she found a way to wedge her foot in the brewery door and became Milwaukee’s first female craft brewer. She’s now a brewer at Third Space Brewing Company and the Wisconsin chapter leader of the Pink Boots Society, an organization that supports women in fermentation industries. Danen sat down (with a beer in hand, of course) to talk about her career, women in brewing, and just how beer relates to her art history major. Why did you choose UWM for your art history major? I chose UWM because I knew pretty early on in high school that I loved studying art. When I started researching more about schools in Wisconsin with art history programs, UWM was listed as one of the best. Most art history alums that I talk to are not brewers. What on Earth happened? My dream was to graduate with my degree and become a curator. Then, I had an internship where I helped curate artwork with local artists for some exhibitions. I was so excited about it, and I got to pick the artists and decide how to present their work. It ended up being a complete disaster. I hated every second of it. Artists want to show their work in the way that they want it to be perceived, and the whole point of curation is to take a step back and show their art in a way that evokes emotion through the viewer in a way that (the artist) may not have presented themselves. But some artists are not the nicest people to work with. I had a feeling it was going to take a long time to get to a point where I would be respected in my field. All the while, while I was in college, I discovered craft beer. A buddy and I started homebrewing together. The process of making beer is so similar to art history.
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How can brewing possibly relate to art history? There are four ingredients: It’s literally malt, yeast, water, and hops. That’s all it is. But there are so many different types of those ingredients that you can utilize. What art historians do is pick components of art apart and talk about them individually, and then how they come together at the end to create the finished product. For me, beer was so similar in that way. You have these really beautiful things that you’re putting into the product. Let’s pick them apart, analyze them, and love and appreciate them for what they are, and then bring them back together for this end product and appreciate that as a whole. My mom always asked, if I had to wake up every day doing something that I loved, what would it be? For a long time, I thought it was curating art. Somewhere along the way, it became, ‘If I could brew beer every day of my life, I would be the happiest person on Earth.’ I imagine brewing is a hard industry to get into without having a beer-related background. Apparently, it’s even harder if you’re a woman. When I was looking to get a job in the brewing industry, there were very few breweries around here. It was just the main ones: Sprecher, Lakefront, Brenner Brewing. And I didn’t know of a single woman who worked in Milwaukee as a brewer. I was applying at Sprecher and places like that, and there ‘weren’t any positions available.’ It’s not like I went into this blind. I read up on beer and really studied the same way that I would have studied art, because I knew that I had to have the knowledge base. You’re able to talk the language. You’re able to confidently say, I can do these things. I want to learn more. … And then no response. It was like that time and time again. It became a slap in the face because I had male friends who had never home-brewed or didn’t know much about beer at all, and they would apply for assistant brewer positions and get the job immediately. How did you get your big break and become the first woman in Milwaukee’s brewing industry?
Art history alum breaks down barriers in the brewing industry
UWM art history alumna Samantha Danen was the first woman to work in Milwaukee’s craft brewing industry. Danen is a brewer at Third Space Brewing. Photo by Sarah Vickery.
I was helping a friend run a homebrew club out of the Rumpus Room downtown. It gathered a bunch of beer nerds together. One of the people that we showcased was George Bregar, the owner of Company Brewing and the person who gave me my first job in a brewery. … His beer was so good. It was the best homebrew I’d ever had in my life and I was so impressed. After a few of these meetings, we connected, and he told me (he was going to) open his own brewery. That was my moment. I thought, ‘I must beg and plead, do whatever it takes, to get a job.’ He hired me on as a server, and when they finally needed a little help in the brewery, that’s when I was finally called on.
How did you get from Company Brewing to Third Space? I worked for Company Brewing for five years and eventually became head brewer there. I was so excited to be part of that operation. I learned so much and made so many great beers and great memories there. The only reason I left is that I was looking to grow a bit more in my career. Third Space Brewing was my top choice because I felt like they really put their employees first. Also, the quality of their beer was incredible. The biggest draw that brought me here was that at the time, the production staff was eight people, and four of them women, which is absolutely unheard of in this industry. Continued on Page 8
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 7
Brewing and art history Continued from Page 7
It’s funny, because women were the original brewers. They were called witches at one point, for doing it. Something that I’ve made my mission since I’ve gotten into the industry is to help other women, and young women, to be in this industry. This seems like the perfect time to talk about the Pink Boots Society. It’s an international organization, and it’s not just beer; it’s for women in all fermentable beverage industries. We have individual chapters, and we do a lot of fundraising. All of the money that we raise goes towards scholarships and educational opportunities for our members. I am the Wisconsin chapter leader of the Pink Boots Society. It brought me together with a bunch of women across the state who are just like me and had to go through all of the same hurdles that I did. It was so nice to finally feel bonded with a group of people that way. I try to set up fun opportunities throughout Wisconsin. We just had (an event) at Old World Wisconsin and they did a brew-day history with us, where we spent an entire day going through what brewing was like back in the 19th century. We literally brewed beer over an open flame. Let’s talk about brewing. What goes into being a brewer? So much. One of the things that I love about Third Space is that we do not have a hierarchical system. Most breweries start you off on packaging, where you package the beer into cans, kegs, bottles, and whatnot. If you’re lucky enough to make it out of packaging, usually you move up to cellar work. That entails processing the beer before it gets to packaging. Then you have the brewing position. Typically, you’re responsible for brewing the beer: mixing the malt and the water together; extracting all of the sugars out of the grain in the mash tun; adding hops; and adding yeast. The yeast is going to eat that sugar and create the byproduct of alcohol, which is our beer. After about a week to two weeks, your beer is going to be done fermenting. The cellar people will extract the yeast and add more hops. We’ll transfer the beer through our centrifuge, which will take out any remaining solids. Then your canning line will package the beer once it’s carbonated. At Third Space, every single person who works here does all of those things. Yesterday, I was on the brew deck. Today, I was in the cellar. Tomorrow, I will be on the canning line. My favorite thing is brewing a recipe that we haven’t brewed before. It challenges you, as a brewer. 8 • IN FOCUS • August, 2022
Samantha Danen stands on the brew deck at Third Space Brewing. Photo by Sarah Vickery.
You get to use the art of brewing and your skills and your knowledge to put it together. Do you, personally, get to make new recipes? Yeah! I’ve created several recipes while I was at Company Brewing and I’ve created more since I’ve been at Third Space. The one that we do on the largest scale here is an IPA called “Like A Girl,” and that’s a collaboration brew that we do with the Pink Boots Society. I got to help come up with that recipe. Do you ever walk into the grocery store and pick up some Third Space beer and think, “I made that”? Absolutely. I look at the bottom of cans all of the time to see when they were printed so I can see if I was on the canning line that day. What are you drinking in your personal time? New Glarus. Anything from New Glarus, really, but my goto is Moon Man. It’s probably my favorite beer of all time. By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science
Course offers students help with choosing their path - including into math First year student Daniel Miller had a general idea of what he might be interested in studying, but he wasn’t sure what specific major he wanted. Jasmine Salton, a senior in education, had her major nearly completed, but still thought she could benefit from learning more about organizing her busy life and fine-tuning study skills. Both say they’ve benefited from the School of Education’s Educational Psychology 110 course – Planning Your Major and Career. The goal of the three-credit course, which is open to all undergraduates, is to help students choose a major at UWM, but also helps them explore their interests, abilities and goals to choose a major that suits them. “I knew I wanted to be somewhere in the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) area,” says Miller, “but I didn’t know the major.” With the help of the course, which he took in the fall semester of 2021, he decided to major in mathematics, which gives him options in a number of career areas. Juggling obligations UWM student Daniel Miller wasn’t sure what he wanted to study, though he knew he wanted to explore the STEM field. With the help of the Planning Your Major and Career course, he decided mathematics was the way to go. (UWM Photo/ Troye Fox)
Salton, who works as a receptionist at the front desk of the Office of Student Services, as well as attending school, said the course helps juggle her multiple obligations.
“Students always ask to spend time on study strategies, planning and time management,” said Vittoria Sipone, an Educational Psychology doctoral candidate who is one of two graduate student mentors for the course. “They really appreciate going over the resources UWM offers – mostly they ask about the Klotsche Center and the library.” The other graduate student mentor teaching assistant is Megan Herdt. They work with a team of Educational Psychology graduate students to teach the course. Faculty mentors for the course are Nadya Fouad, distinguished professor and Mary and Ted Kellner endowed chair of Educational Psychology, and Jacqueline Nguyen, associate professor of Educational Psychology. They offer a weekly class that provides pedagogical support and content knowledge to the teaching assistants. Career exploration Miller said he found tips such as how to email a professor helpful and well as class discussions about mindsets and insecurities that can unconsciously limit career exploration. “Sometimes people think they’re not smart enough or the wrong gender for certain fields.” Years of research have shown many undergraduates struggle in figuring out a major and a career. Fouad and her colleagues have demonstrated in their research the value of Ed Psych 110 and similar courses in helping students with these decisions. For example, an article Fouad and colleagues wrote that is now in press for Career Development Quarterly showed that a 16-week career exploration course had a significant positive impact on decreasing students’ career indecision. This was based on data from 102 students who took the Ed Psych 110 course. By Kathy Quirk, University Relations
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 9
What the mechanical forces behind prote Talin is a protein that controls cellular attachment and movement, but its malfunctioning also allows cancer cells to spread. DCL1 is a tumor-suppressing protein. But scientists don’t fully understand how either protein works – or what happens when they don’t work the way they should. One thing scientists do know: When it is present in a cell, DCL1 can interact with talin and perhaps interfere with talin’s ability to group cells together. If scientists knew the exact steps in the process, they may be able to identify a treatment option to keep cancer from metastasizing. To find answers, a team of UWM researchers used a unique tool that they built to apply the exact mechanical forces that act on talin in the body, beginning a process called protein unfolding that is necessary for the protein to perform its function. With the tool, called “single molecule magnetic tweezers,” the scientists measured intracellular mechanical forces and experimented with them in the lab so that they can find what happens to talin when DCL1 is both present and not present in the cell. They have discovered a unique behavior of talin, induced by mechanical forces, that demonstrates a strong interaction that can explain the antitumor effect of DLC1 when the two proteins bind. “We still don’t know exactly what goes wrong with talin functioning when cancer cells metastasize,” said Ionel Popa, a UWM physics professor who led the team. “But it looks like talin plays a role in activating the spread of cells when the tumor-suppressing DCL1 is missing. And when DCL1 binds to talin, it appears to block talin from activating cell spreading.”
Ionel Popa, UWM professor of physics, demonstrates the magnetic tweezers built by his lab members to m that carry out the body’s functions required for good health. In back is research assistant Sabita Sharma.
The work is published in the journal Science Advances. A complex process Like all proteins, talin forms a specific three-dimensional shape that defines its function. Known as protein folding, it is one of the most complex processes in nature and, when folding goes awry, it often leads to disease. Popa’s lab investigates forces affecting protein folding, which can lead to new treatments for diseases that start when proteins misfold. For some proteins, including talin, mechanical forces inside and outside the cell are necessary for the protein to obtain the shape that unlocks its function. Inside the cells, mechanical forces prompt talin to unfold, revealing receptors where other proteins can bind to form needed messaging connections. 10 • IN FOCUS • August, 2022
“The process is like a mechanical computer because it calculates how much force is needed for all the connections to happen,” Popa said. “These forces tell the cell what’s going on around it.” The cell produces various ligands, which convert mechanical forces to chemical signals when they bind to a protein. And the mechanical fine-tuning by these ligands, including DCL1, are what made the researchers so interested in talin to begin with. The location, or domain, where DCL1 binds with talin has the highest number of ligands available among all binding stations on the protein. In fact, messaging goes on both inside and outside the cell as ligands help orchestrate the task. Correlating and measuring the force mechanism of the folding has allowed the researchers to study this process in further detail.
ein folding can tell us about cancer The magnetic tweezers allowed the researchers to make measurements on a protein molecule only a few nanometers in size. After tethering it between a glass surface and a paramagnetic bead, the researchers measure the position of the paramagnetic bead at a freely moving end of the molecule, and that of a nonmagnetic bead, glued to the same surface as the opposite end of the protein. Then they apply a magnetic force, replicating the exact mechanical perturbations that a protein experiences in the body, and measure its unfolding and refolding to understand how its structure changes. With the magnetic tweezers the researchers can investigate the effect of those forces over days rather than minutes, similar to their timelines in the body. The role of hormones The activation of talin during cell-spreading and tissuebuilding is controlled by hormones. In this stage, the protein undergoes cycles of stretching and binding with other proteins. Mechanical forces from both within the cell and outside of it come into play as more proteins join the process. For talin to be activated, it must be brought to the cell membrane by messengers that signal from the cell cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix, the surrounding environment that cells are embedded in. Popa’s team tracked the effect of DCL1 in this process.
measure the mechanical forces that act on proteins as they fold and refold. Proteins are large molecules (UWM Photo/Elora Hennessey)
How the tweezers can ‘see’ Scientists already knew that DCL1 binds at only one particular domain on the talin protein. The UWM researchers revealed how: In response to an applied force, talin unfolds and refolds, forming a structure where DCL1 binds almost irreversibly. “We gathered the data from the talin molecule as it unfolded and refolded, and then added DCL1 to see how it changed,” Popa said. “Previous research indicated a weak interaction, suggesting it’s probably not the driver of DCL1’s suppressor abilities. But when we tested it, we found the opposite – the resulting molecule becomes super-stable.”
“During this hormone-driven ‘inside-out’ activation, if DLC1 also binds to talin, it will not allow for that recruitment to the membrane,” he said. “Any of the steps controlling cell spreading might be highjacked by cancer cells to become metastatic. In some cases, DLC1 is completely suppressed.” Missing or malfunctioning DCL1 may not be the only factor in cancer spread, Popa said. But the work illustrates the alternate behaviors of proteins under force and points to a direction for further study for this protein interaction as a potential target for cancer drugs. Co-authors on the paper include members of the Popa lab: Narayan Dahal, Sabita Sharma, Binh Phan and Annie Eis. This work is dedicated to Eis, a research specialist, who recently passed away. By Laura Otto, University Relations
College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 11
In the Media and Around the Community What’s the story behind the lions sitting outside Milwaukee’s Zeidler Building? Ying Wang (Art History) explained their cultural significance on WUWM Radio. The Wisconsin Examiner profiled Ben Hubing’s (‘21, MA History) book “George Wallace in Wisconsin,” which explores how the state helped bolster Wallace’s political ambitions. “Beach ambassadors” along Lake Michigan’s shore have spent the summer providing water safety information to beach visitors. Student Mikayla Walker (Geosciences) talked to WUWM Radio about why she joined the program. Lisa Silverman (History and Jewish Studies) delivered a lecturer at Goethe University in Germany in July exploring self-identification and antisemitism. Michael Miner (‘20, PhD Sociology) argued the case for hiring sociologists both in academia and in the private sector in an article he wrote for Footnotes, the magazine of the American Sociological Association. Brick Underground’s “The Newcomers” series explores
why NYC transplants moved to New York. Megan Benedict (‘13, BA Film Studies and Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) said living in the city was a lifelong dream. Conflict arises when roommates have a difference between their “threshold for mess,” Sarah Riforgiate (Communication) said in an MSN article. A. Aneesh (Sociology) explained how investing in education in a city can lower crime and attract highlyeducated residents in an article in The Center Square.
Michael Mirer’s (Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) research was referenced in an article on Receive News examining parody sports Twitter accounts. Graduate student Marissa Gavin (History) penned an article exploring indigenous oppositiion to the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Her work was published on History News Network. Milwaukeeans must find a way to prepare for severe weather events that will increase due to climate change, Mark Schwartz (Geography) said in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
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Problems with automated hiring systems may be a contributing factor in America’s worker shortage, according to new research by Noelle Chesley (Sociology). Her work was featured on Spectrum 1 News and Phys.org. Patrick Bellegarde-Smith (emeritus African and African Diaspora Studies) was a panelist for the screening and subsequent discussion of the film “Myth of a Colorblind France” at the Streets of Paris Celebration at the Milwaukee Art Museum in July. Students from the UWM Geography Department were featured on CBS 58 News for mapping and removing invasive species at Riveredge Nature Center in Saukville. On the 25th anniversary of the landing of the Mars Rover, Jean Creighton (Planetarium) explained to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel what made the event such an incredible scientific feat. Creighton also appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio
as the first images from the James Webb telescope were published to explain how the public can begin stargazing themselves, and discussed the life cycles of stars on WUWM Radio.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s goal to grow the city’s population to 1 million is “laudable,” but not realistic, Marc Levine (emeritus History) opined in a Milwaukee Magazine article. Mongabay detailed how Filipe Alberto (Biological
Sciences) is helping to preserve dwindling kelp forests on the west coast. Gizmodo cited research by David Kaplan (Physics)
to explain how tangled magnetic fields can interrupt the pulse of radio signals from space.
Alumni Accomplishments Kate Weiland (‘96, BA Mass Communication) was appointed the new chief operating officer of Concurrency Inc., an IT services company. Weiland has been with the company since 2012 and served in various roles. She also serves on various boards and committees in the greater Milwaukee area. Jodi Cooley (‘97, BS Mathematical Sciences and Physics) was named the new executive director of SNOLAB, an underground research facility in Canada focusing on astroparticle physics. Cooley will serve a five-year term. She is currently a professor of physics at Southern Jodi Cooley Methodist University and deputy operations manager for the SuperCDMS Collaboration. Robert “Bob” Rosinksy (‘76, MS Psychology) retired in July after a 50-year career with Goodwill Industries. He started on the ground floor and eventually worked his way up to the CEO of Goodwill Industries Manasota in 2013. Rosinsky was profiled for his career on YourObserver. com. Antonio Paniagua Guzmán (‘22, PhD Sociology) joined Memory Keepers Medical Discovery Team in July. Memory Keepers focues on collaborative research to improve dementia outcomes in Indigenous and rural communities. Vicki Young (‘06, MA English) was among the first four graduates in the nation to earn her doctoral degree in First Nations Education. Awarded by UW-Green Bay, the degree has prepared Young and her cohort to form a new base of knowledge for Indigenous education. Young is a citizen of Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and teaches at the College of Vicki Young Menominee Nation. Evan Casey (‘17, BA Journalism, Advertising, and Media Studies) was hired as a reporter for Wisconsin Public Radio. He was previously a community reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Laurels and Accolades Graduate student Jill Neuendorf (Translation & Interpreting Studies) won first place in the third annual International Film Translation Contest, “Babylon V,” organized by several state libraries and an independent film studio on May 21 in Russia. Jill wrote English subtitles for the Russian documentary film, “The Right to Life,” about Goray Manor Park in Pskov Region, Russia and the people who seek to preserve the former manor and the 200-year-old trees found on the grounds. Incoming faculty member Pamela Harris (Mathematical Sciences) has received the 2022 Deborah and Franklin Tepper Haimo Award from the Mathematical Association of America. The award
recognizes academics who are considered extraordinarily successful and whose Pamela Harris teaching effectiveness has been shown to have had influence beyond their own institutions. Harris earned her PhD in Mathematics from UWM in 2012.
People in Print Maria Novotny (English) and Lori Beth De Hertogh. 2022. Amplifying Rhetorics of Reproductive Justice within Rhetorics of Health and Medicine. Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, 5(4): 374-402. Erica B. Young, Lindsay Reed, and John Berges (all Biological Sciences). 2022. Growth parameters and responses of green algae across a gradient of phototrophic, mixotrophic and heterotrophic conditions. PEER J. Online. Timothy L. O’Brien, Stephen L. Hawkins, and Adam Loesch (all Sociology). 2022. Scientific Disciplines and the Admissibility of Expert Evidence in Courts. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 8. Sarah E. Riforgiate (Communication), Satoris S. Howes, and Mathias J. Simmons. 2022. The impact of daily emotional labor on health and well-being. Management Communication Quarterly, 36(3), 391-417. College of Letters & Science • UW–Milwaukee • 13
Planetarium Events All planetarium shows, unless otherwise noted, are appropriate for ages 4 and up. Mask-wearing is strongly recommended. The Manfred Olson Planetarium is located at 1900 E. Kenwood Blvd.
Building update Work continues on UWM’s new chemistry building. Workers broke ground on the $118 million project in January. The four-story, 163,400 square-foot building is scheduled to be completed in late 2023 or early 2024.
August 5
Constellations of the Zodiac: Leo. 7-8 p.m. Delve into the astronomy and mythology behind the zodiac and learn how to find your zodiac constellation in the night sky. In this live, interactive show, we will explore the stories and science of the zodiac constellations with a focus on what makes this month’s constellation, Leo, unique. The program will include an indoor stargazing session of the night sky followed by the opportunity to ask questions.Tickets are $5-6.
Sept. 1
Stars and S’mores. 8-10 p.m. Join the UWM Planetarium for our popular outdoor event, Stars & S’mores! Enjoy eating delicious s’mores and relax outside while gazing at summer constellations through our telescopes. S’mores kits are free (one per person while supplies last). We will also offer free planetarium shows every 15-20 minutes. This event is open to the public.
Sept. 2
Constellations of the Zodiac: Virgo. 7-8 p.m. IDelve into the astronomy and mythology behind the zodiac and learn how to find your zodiac constellation in the night sky. In this live, interactive show, we will explore the stories and science of the zodiac constellations with a focus on what makes this month’s constellation, Virgo, unique. The program will include an indoor stargazing session of the night sky followed by the opportunity to ask questions. Tickets are $5-6.
Photo by Sarah Vickery.
